Religious Studies
Tibetan monks, visiting St. Mary's, illustrate the sand-painting of a mandala.
Religious studies is a detailed and sympathetic examination of the world's religions. In one form or another, these religions are at the heart of every one of the world's cultures, providing concepts of human nature, ritual, morality law, cosmology, and visions of salvation. Majors study the history, beliefs, and practices of the major religious traditions including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Daoism, and Native American and African religions.
Religious studies is a popular minor, which fits well with any major.
St. Mary's Project (SMP)
Projects for religious studies majors often combine elements of the major with ideas inspired from the study of other disciplines such as philosophy, anthropology, and psychology. Examples include:
- Arya Tara: A feminist reconciliation of Tibetan Buddhism
- Eating Christian: Finding God through food
- Feminism and the Bible in dialog
- Lutheran Women in Ministry
- Religious approaches to death
- Cell phones and Coca-Cola in the land of prayer wheels: Tradition and modernity in contemporary Tibet
Travel Abroad
Religious studies majors participate in the study programs around the world, including at Oxford, Italy, China, or Thailand. Many travel to Berlin and Krakow with a St. Mary's faculty member for the summer program on the Holocaust.
"It is hard for me to believe that I participated in the ISPH [International Summer Program on the Holocaust] ten years ago. Since then, I've finished college, gone to law school, and practiced as a construction law attorney for the past five years. …The lessons from the summer ten years ago have definitely become part of who I am today. Perhaps fellow program participants can relate to my experience. I can't help but see issues of ‘burden versus responsibility' all around me."
-- Stuart Kreindler, '97
Life After St. Mary's
Half of all St. Mary's students go on to graduate or professional school. Our recent majors in religious studies have studied in the following graduate programs:
- Catholic
- Claremont
- Harvard (Divinity)
- Hebrew Union
- Narola (Buddhist)
- Yale (Divinity)
Religious studies majors enter a host of careers upon graduation, including teaching, crisis counseling, the law, and personnel management. The Peace Corps attracts other graduates. (More than 30 St. Mary's graduates have volunteered in the last dozen years.)
For more information, visit the Philosophy and Religious Studies Department Web site at
http://www.smcm.edu/PhilRelg/